Christmas Mantel 2018

I can't believe Thanksgiving is this week! I try to have all my Christmas decorations up beforehand, but I'm going slow this year as I'm changing things up. I love the twinkle of lights as we have Thanksgiving dinner. I used to wait until after Thanksgiving to decorate, but when I was due with my son near Christmas one year I decided to get a head start. I never looked back and made it a new tradition!

There's so much new this year! The only thing that is the same is the magnolia garland. It's a pretty garland, but I love to layer it with either faux picks and/or real greenery. This year I have only a few picks of white poinsettias and gold leaves. I trimmed branches from a real garland to add fullness and a variety of leaves. I used less than half of it here. The remaining greenery will go in my stair garland.

I also bought new stockings this year. It's been something I've wanted to do for several years now that the boys are outgrowing the babyish ones I bought them as newborns. They come in different colors and monograms, but I chose the ivory with gold because they matched the decor in the living room.

This wreath was on my front door last year. I love how realistic and full it looks almost as much as I love that it's battery operated with a timer. That was a must for this mirror since I would need a ladder to turn it on. Thankfully, the wreath is still available this year so I was able to buy another one for the front door.

I love the extra strand lights in the lanterns from my foyer. I keep moving them around-foyer, by the Christmas tree, and by the fireplace. They are great in all those places, but I can see them best here.

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My Home Office Makeover with Bassett Furniture!

I'm so excited to announce that I am partnering with Bassett Furniture to completely furnish my home office! I haven't shown you much of this room since it needs all new furniture. It's an important space because it is the first room off the foyer. It also has double glass French doors so there is no hiding the need for a makeover! The walls (paint and moulding), chandelier and rug have been updated recently. I've also added a mirror behind the desk and new abstract art on a perpendicular wall since I took this photo. Bassett will be providing a new desk, credenza with lamps and an accent chair in the corner. The design will be transitional with richer colors often seen in a study. Goodbye, white cottage-style furniture!

A new Bassett store just opened last week near me in The Woodlands, Texas. However, there are stores all across the country if you want to visit. I love that their furniture can fit any design style, and the customization options make it truly unique. It's especially important to me since I love to mix styles in my own home for a curated look. It truly is a place where you can buy an entire room of furniture and no one would guess it all came from the same store. If mixing styles sounds complicated, they also offer free design help!

I received the full customer experience when I visited the store a few days ago. Debi, a designer with the company for 14 years, helped me learn about the construction process, gave me information about the fabrics, and even showed me computer renderings of what those fabrics would look like on the furniture. This is truly a great resource for customers and designers alike. Most of my custom design projects require waiting on fabric samples in the mail and trips to multiple furniture stores all over town. This reduces the time of the design process to a one store visit. A big selling point for me is that the furniture is made in North Carolina, and the ship time for custom pieces is usually 30 days! I can honestly say that is the shortest time frame I have ever been given.

All of these fabrics at my fingertips were like Christmas Day for me!

Fabric selection is just as important as the furniture. It can make or break a piece. There are so many fabrics to choose from, and they are all very current with graphic prints, performance, and ikat styles. 

I love that they have Sunbrella! All of my living room furniture is covered in it to make it family friendly. I get so many questions about how I have almost white furniture with three boys and a dog. This is why!

There are also custom pillow options! You can pick your upholstery and pillow fabric at the same time. I chose the perfect sized pillow for a chair without having to measure. My designer and I just grabbed a couple of lumbar pillows and tested each on the showroom chair to see which would work the best.

The custom options continue with the stain finishes.

Custom headboards-nailheads, no nailheads, tufting, no tufting, choose your fabric, etc. That gray channel tufted one is calling my name!

Foot options-love the gold!

The most surprising item Bassett offers are custom drapes. They can also measure and install for you too. It truly is one stop shopping. 

Now that you know about the customization options and the gorgeous fabrics, let's take a tour of the showroom!

If I needed dining room furniture I would buy every single thing you see here. 

Design tip-If your husband refuses to have throw pillows use a pattern on his chair instead. I've learned a lot of men really don't like pillows!

It also helps that it's a recliner that doesn't look like a recliner.

If you don't want a full patterned chair consider upholstering only part if it in a pattern. You could have the front and back different fabrics like you see here. This is the first time I have been told that this is possible from a furniture store. It's usually only available from custom upholsterers.

I love this chair so much!

Designer selfie ;)

 The chandeliers are absolutely gorgeous!

It's not all transitional. I used a similar farmhouse chandelier in a recent project.

 I love this quatrefoil mirror!

You know I'm a fan of this style of mirror!

The chippendale chair in the top right corner is so on trend right now! It actually never went out of style, but I'm seeing it everywhere lately. You could even put a performance fabric on the seat for a breakfast room with kids.

Classic chair in a gorgeous velvet

Another awesome chandelier

The art choices really impressed me. So many of my clients need large scale artwork since even the walls are bigger in Texas. This is perfect!

Black and white abstract art gets me every single time.

I love these lamps! The price is great too.

Bassett is a great source for beautiful, mid-priced rugs. Most brick and mortar stores offer either the cheapest quality rugs you've ever seen, or silk rugs from Tibet that cost as much as a year of college tuition.

I hope you enjoyed the tour! You can see these products and more on the Bassett website. Stay tuned for the full home office room reveal!

Living Room Change Up

If you follow me on Instagram (particularly the stories) you know I had a rug saga going on in my living room. I knew I wanted something in an abstract pattern with a bit of blue. There wasn't much to choose from that wasn't a silk Tibetan rug aka expensive, but I finally found something affordable that would work. It was delivered in the evening while I was at a client's house so my husband and son laid it out for me. The minute I walked in the living room I was shocked. It was a lot of blue! 

I went back and forth about keeping it or returning it. It's really pretty in the daylight when the sun washes out the blue. The contrast between the blue and cream is really noticeable in dim lighting, which wasn't the look I was going for. I can't say it's perfect, but once I looked at photos with my old cream rug and the new one I decided it looks so much better with the addition of the blue. 

I also like how it picks up the blue in the art above the TV. 

(Sorry, these photos are a bit blurry. I used my nicer camera, but must have done something wrong).

The only problem is the pillows on the sofa need to be changed out now to something with less pattern. These are old Homegoods pillows that were $16.99 that I picked up on a whim until I decided on something more permanent anyway.

I have so much blue in my house it's nice that to have it carried through to the living room now.

My old cream rug found it's way into the bedroom. I haven't photographed it yet because I need to address that big stain by my foot first. That is the reason I buy inexpensive rugs! Folex works wonders for stain removal FYI. Here is a quick Instagram photo I snapped for my stories the other day. I was excited about finally being able to wear my orange fall sweater with the cooler temps! I would eventually like a viscose tone on tone striped rug in a cream or beige, but I haven't had a chance to look yet. I need to get moving on those living room throw pillows first!

I just realized I sound like a hot mess-mysterious rug stains, blurry photos, rash shopping decisions, smudged mirror, zero time to address any of it...at least I like my outfit! 

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